Freida Pinto Claims To Be Not Dating Dev Patel

The Slumdog Millionaire paramours claim to be just friend in real life.

Evidently, you people (and by "you people" I mean film-goers, critics and anyone with a heart) really liked that Slumdog Millionaire. And the Academy, often accused of heartlessness, dug it too; to the tune of eight Oscars including the coveted Sound Mixing Award. But what's a great love story without its paramours?

The movie (even with all of its excellence in Cinematography and Film Editing) goes nowhere without an incredible dynamic between Jamal and Latika, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, respectively. But did that on-screen love affair spill off of the soundstage?

We mentioned a while back a rumor that Freida Pinto was secretly married and, subsequently, secretly snubbed a bro named Rohan Antao. And this Rohan Antao, per Celebuzz, claims that Dev Patel swooped in and stole his girl but the studio asked them to downplay the real world nature of their courtship.

On the red carpet for the big show, Freida Pinto denied up (and down, per Celebuzz) that she and Dev Patel are actually an item. Many, many people were unconvinced (including our celeb blogger extraordinaire, Kristin Booker). Anil Kapoor (the film's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire host) also thinks the two have a certain chemistry, which we just call 'acting.'

If any of this is true, we suppose that these stars are doing a fine job of acclimating to Hollyweird; on-set relationships, broken marriages, flirting with Ryan Seacrest and unconvincing denials. Is it too soon to refer to them as the Indian Brad and Angelina? And if we do will Shahrukh Khan (SRK) or Aishwarya Rai punch someone out?

Rumor has it that the guy originally scheduled to play Jamal was too handsome for the producers. Poor Ruslaan Mumtaz could have be dating Freida Pinto and playing beer pong with Zac Efron, which proves that there is more to life than being really, really ridiculously good-looking.

What do you think about Dev and Freida non-situation? And about Slumdog's near sweep?